Executive office space has shrunk over the years because of enterprise cost cutting and the move to flatten organizational structures. With the reduction in office space, and in particular personal offices, executives, managers and professionals are left with less space to conduct meaningful multi-party conferences or meetings. Conference rooms are generally available for use in modern office designs; however, scheduling time for use of such space is burdensome and usage is typically limited in duration. Conference rooms are also only typically reserved for a few hours, at most, and participants are required to remove their materials, work product or belongings immediately after a session ends so that subsequent participants on a conference room schedule can occupy the space.
Although many office meetings only involve a few participants, most common offices will likely be crowded if a small conference room table were added to space that may already be occupied by a desk, credenza, bookshelves and file cabinets. Furthermore, the additional table would typically not be in continuous use for collaborative sessions and, therefore, may be in the way or, worse, can serve as a work pile collector when it is not being utilized for its intended purpose.
It would be desirable, therefore, for private office furnishing to accommodate small conferences/meetings wherein only 2-4 visiting participants are involved. The present inventors believe their invention will accommodate tight office space situations where collaboration space is occasionally needed but not presently served by conference room reservation, addition furniture (e.g., small conference table) or modular furniture.